Protoculture Cells
Hey. was wondering about the way you handle Pcells. Are the cells from Invid mecha easily interchangeable with UEEF mecha. Do they need to be modified in any way to fit?
Protoculture Cells
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» Protoculture Cells
According to the book, they don't. The only Invid ones in the game right now are rather… depleted, though. down to 32%. Minus whatever was used in that battle for the Callisto listening post.
Good question! It's something I have been thinking about. Right now, I have no set stance, but am leaning towards the "the canister itself may be different, but the 'gunk' inside is the same."
I agree that the gunk/Protoculture should be the same stuff. But I think the can would be different though, if only just a little. Also the book says that you need mecha mechanics/BME skill to swap them over. Will you be enforcing this?
I don't recall them needing a BME to stick new ones in, just to modify an enemy one for allied mecha I'd think. They toss them around like reloading is the easy during the Norristown thing. But that's just for the show. Despite being based on the show, it's not always followed in game.
Yea, I meant the RPG. It specifically states that you need to be a BME or Mech mechanic to swap them.
If anything, one has to ask the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
We know that the Invid were probably the first to utilize a Protoculture "Cell", their mastery of Protoculture, allowed them to 'package' it in such a compact manner very early on.
The Masters and by proxy the Zentraedi used reactor sized power supplies. We also know that the Alpha was in the inception stages well before the SDF-3 left for Tirol. So, to close the massive plot hole, one could assume that the Alpha ran on a power train similar, if not slightly more compact, then that found in the venerable VF-1, and that, after the UEEF's initial encounters with the Regents forces were able to back engineer captured Protoculture Cells from fallen Invid.
That being said, and assuming the UEEF recognized that many of their operations would keep them far from the SDF-3 or any other facility that could manufacture PC Cells, and, to lighten the logistics load, it would make sense to allow for captured Invid cells to be used by UEEF mecha.
So, while the cells would be different in exact dimensions, I will say that the any UEEF mecha that utilizes standard full sized PC Cell would have an adapter, that would hold the different shaped Invid cell in place, but, in keeping with the book, requires a BME or Mech engineer to attach it.
The PC cells used in Cyclone's however are much smaller, and cannot be swapped out by a standard Invid Power Cell.
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